Ryan Blaney is going to be hard to beat in Sunday's Iowa Corn 350 NASCAR Cup Series race as he qualified on the pole after topping the long-run charts in practice.
NEWTON, Iowa -- Ryan Blaney is going to be hard to beat in Sunday's Iowa Corn 350 NASCAR Cup Series race as he qualified on the pole after topping the long-run charts in practice.
Blaney earned the pole with a lap of 23.474 seconds around the 7/8-mile track. He averaged 134.191 mph, better than Kyle Larson who qualified second and tied Joey Logano with a lap clocking in at 23.492 seconds.
TOP-10 QUALIFIERS: Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Connor Zilisch, Ross Chastain, Erik Jones.
Brad Keselowski qualified fourth but will drop to the rear of the field due to a crash after his qualifying lap.
Jones topped practice overall with a lap of 23.710 seconds, while Blaney had the fifth-fastest overall lap (23.813) However, he averaged 131.536 mph over 10 consecutive laps and had the fastest 10-lap average in practice.
Christopher Bell (131.034 mph), Logano (130.88 mph), Austin Cindric (130.734), Todd Gilliland (130.628), Gibbs (130.610), Chastain (130.579), John Hunter Nemechek (130.557), Josh Berry (130.483) and Bubba Wallace (130.471) rounded out the top-10 in the 10-lap average. Larson was back in 15th (130.251).
Although some of the Toyota teams showed some speed, brakes could be an issue. While 23XI Racing flagship driver Tyler Reddick's team reported they'll be okay for the race, teammates Riley Herbst and Bubba Wallace's teams were reportedly concerned with the brakes going into the race. Toyota teammate Chase Briscoe's team was also concerned.
Briscoe, Wallace and Herbst will start 20th, 26th and 28th respectively.
Last year's Iowa Speedway winner, William Byron, will start 19th. He was 12th on the 10-lap average chart.
Teammate Chase Elliott will go to the rear of the field. He was 30th fastest in practice, 22nd on the 10-lap average and was set to start 32nd.
Denny Hamlin will also start in the rear of the field. He was sixth-fastest in practice, 14th-fastest on the 10-lap average and was set to start 29th.
Hamlin is 84 points ahead of Tyler Reddick, 120 ahead of Ryan Blaney and 135 ahead of Ty Gibbs in fourth. For the battle for the final two prime Chase spots, Hamlin is 248 ahead of Carson Hocevar, 251 ahead of Chase Elliott (in sixth), 263 ahead of Chase Briscoe, 269 ahead of Kyle Larson, 273 ahead of Chris Buescher and 277 ahead of Christopher Bell in 10th.
Here is what the cutline looks like for the final Chase spots:
- 11. Daniel Suarez +103
- 12. William Byron +88
- 13. Joey Logano +65
- 14. Bubba Wallace +60
- 15. Shane van Gisbergen +57
- 16. Austin Cindric +38
- 17. Ryan Preece -38
- 18. Erik Jones -44
- 19. Brad Keselowski -50
- 20. Michael McDowell -76
Here is the full starting lineup, plus the practice results and 10-lap average chart.
